Here come the cyborg beetles. Electronic-filled backpacks have been used to create controllable flying bio-robots.
Male M. torquata beetles had electrodes implanted into four of their flight muscles. Small electric pulses were then administered to聽steer them left or right.
Their acceleration could be increased by upping the frequency of the pulses. A 3D motion capture system tracked their position during flight.
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The researchers found that when a continuous pulse was applied, the beetles would eventually adapt to the intervention. However, applying two short pulses lasting 150 milliseconds, with a 50 millisecond rest in between, was most effective for controlling their route, reaching a success rate of 79 percent when the beetle鈥檚 position was reassessed every 200 ms.
鈥淭his is the first demonstration that insect motion can be steered in a desired direction in a consistent way,鈥� says from the University of Washington in Seattle, who is not involved with the research. 鈥淚t shows that truly autonomous, bio-hybrid robots the size of insects are a real technical possibility.鈥�
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The beetle cyborgs were created by from Nanyang Technological Institute in Singapore, Malaysia and his colleagues. They were interested in building tiny flying robots and by using beetles as the starting point, Sato and his team could avoid the incredibly difficult task of making small robotic bodies.
Instead, they had to learn how to rear beetles, making sure they were kept in ideal conditions both before and after the experiments. The study did not impact the beetles鈥� 3 to 6 month lifespan, but whether or not invertebrates feel pain is still unclear.
Sato says the cyborg beetles could one day be used for search and rescue. After an earthquake, for example, they could help rescue teams locate missing people. 鈥淚f we integrate carbon dioxide and infrared sensors they could detect living people,鈥� says Sato.
Compared to using drones, co-opted insects are better at dealing with turbulence, are easier to control and are much less costly. And they aren鈥檛 limited by battery life: they just need to be fed. 鈥淭heir flight time is measured in hours, rather than in minutes as with current drones,鈥� says Fuller.
Cockroaches have also been聽investigated as possible cyborg helpers. The critters are particularly good at scuttling through small gaps so could help search and rescue teams check through rubble after a disaster. One project from North Carolina State University,聽used a drone to聽coordinate a swarm of cockroaches聽controlled by stimulation to their antennae.
Sato and his colleagues聽are now looking at how to control the beetles鈥� altitude, as well as how to make them hover in the air. They think the technique could also be applied to a variety of other insects, since most have similar muscle structure and function.
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